Comments

Comment by Descartes

This daily requires 6 ingredients for the truth serum. Ingredients will vary each time the daily is done. But there is a constant pattern to the ingredients asked by Finklestein. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd ingredients are common (i.e. either room will have it in multiple spawns.) The 4th and 5th are uncommon (i.e. found in multiple spawns only in one room.) The last or 6th ingredient is rare (i.e. one spawn only.)

Locations for Alchemical materials for this daily quest are as follows :

Common to both rooms

Hairy Herring Heads

Icecrown Bottled Water

Knotroot

Muddy Mire Maggots

Pickled Eagle Egg

Pulverized Gargoyle Teeth

Putrid Pirate Perspiration

Seasoned Cider Slider

Speckled Guano

Spiky Spider Eggs

Withered Bat Wings

Only found in the left room (rare ones are always on the 2nd rack from the bottom except for Crushed Basilisk Crystals and Ghoul Drool)

Abomination Guts (north shelf)

Blight Crystal (south shelf)

Chilled Serpent Mucus (east shelf)

Crushed Basilisk Crystals (south shelf, bottom rack)

Frozen Spider Ichor (west shelf)

Prismatic Mojo

Raptor Claw

Only found in the right room

Crystallized Hogsnot (south shelf)

Ghoul Drool (left north shelf, bottom rack)

Trollbane (right north shelf)

Amberseed

Ancient Ectoplasm

Shrunken Dragon's Claw

Wasp's Wings

Comment by CaliberX

Descartes post is pretty complete, but I did make a little ascii map for myself and thought I would share it.

Comment by Beaker

Comment by derxer89

Comment by mrjolly

Arg - what a quest. I hope this helps...

This avoids the top shelves, which are sometimes inaccessible.Also, this 'prefers' the right side - since this is nearest to his pot.

col1=Namecol2=Side, left or right (as you look at the alchemist)col3=Case (numbered from left to right - on both sides, f=floor)col4=Shelf Number (1 to 4, 1=top, 4=bottom)col5=Item on shelf, from the left)

Comment by Beaker

awesome, thanks mrjolly

try using the tag for spacing

This avoids the top shelves, which are sometimes inaccessible.Also, this 'prefers' the right side - since this is nearest to his pot.

col1=Namecol2=Side, left or right (as you look at the alchemist)col3=Case (numbered from left to right - on both sides, f=floor)col4=Shelf Number (1 to 4, 1=top, 4=bottom)col5=Item on shelf, from the left)

Comment by Avulsion

Ok, so you don't spend 30 mins of failure. Do this, first go to both rooms (left and right of the questgiver) and memorize all the stuff in the shelves and ground. Once that is done, get yourself some speed boost (hunter's aspect of the cheetah, druid's dash, rogue's sprint, JC's trinket, pot that speeds u up etc.). This quest is timed. You have to get all the mats one at a time quick. Doing that you need to:

1. Talk to the questgiver to start the quest.2. You will see yellow warning on top of the screen "get me ....."3. As soon as you start it.. start walking fwd either room ( I find myself running to the right room first)4. When you get to room and looting the mats, WHILE LOOTING move your toon so it's facing out, this way when you loot the item all you do is auto run (don't forget to use your speed buffs the entire time).5. Quickly move to the NPC's couldron and click it.6. He will then ask you to get more items from the shelves or ground. Repeat 3-5, rinse and repeat and you shall get this damn quest finished.

Good Luck!

Comment by thothamon

Easily the most dishearteningly obnoxious quest in the game. FFS blizz, if you are going to make timed quests this quick necessary, THEN FIX YOU CRAPPY LAGGY SERVERS! Standing there for 4 seconds waiting for something to happen, all the while the quest timer is ticking down = NOT FUN. Also looting the items should not be a channel, just a click. Bad design, don't bother unless you really need the reputation or they fix it. The game should not be about memorizing shelves to see if you can get a bonus in rep... just plain stupid.

Unfortunately I will do it anyway, /bump Mr.Jolly above that is hands down the easiest reference to use for completing this rather irritating adventure.

Comment by vintertor

This is the worst quest ever. If I got to meet the person who made this quest, I would make him suffer. I wouldn't kill him, but I would hurt him very bad. I'd start off with just punches to the face, to see his reaction. Hopefully, he would become scared and try to run away. This is where my speed comes to use. I would hunt him down like the *!@got he is, then I would kick his leg from behind so he would fall down to the ground, grinding his face to the floor. While still maintaining some of my speed, I would use it to make a jump, and aim to land on his bald nerdy head. Of course, I would wear a pair of combat boots, only to hurt him as much as possible. I would proceed with kicking him while lying down, because I simply love kicking people on the ground. Naturally, he would try to hide his face in his hands. This is where it gets funny. I would use a hammer and some nails to nail this ^&*!ER down in the ground. He would scream out of pain and I would laugh. Imagine this #$%s fat body lying on his back with his limbs nailed to the ground. Since he would scream and make some disturbing noises, I would put on some music. Preferably some aggressive music like white pride music or Cannibal Corpse (lol), but I wouldn't put too much effort in finding the right CD... Anyways, I would also find out if he had a family. If he did, I would call them and tell them to get here if they wanted their homo father to live. Of course they would come, and this would lead to two options. Either, I kill them in front of his eyes. OR, I rape his wife and/or daughter if they look good. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Nerds who work at Blizzard don't have hot wives/daughters". In 95% of the cases, you're right. But I have actually been surprised a couple of times while doing this. I've got some good pussy. I escpecially remember a bitch named Joanna, damn she was fine. Can't remember where her dad used to work, but that doesn't matter, she swallowed it so deep I can't remember anything else.Well, after doing one of the two options, I would continue the beating. I would only stop if either the cops came or he started dieing. When I felt like he had got what he deserved, I would use my camera and film the *!@got. Why? Because I would send it to Blizzard to make them realize that they NEVER will do this mistake again. If they didn't take it seriously, I would go after the next game designer... Mwahaha.

Comment by Redwod

ITS JUST THE MOST LAME QUEST I EVER SEEN

Comment by Kerrianne

So, over a few days of doing this series of dailies, I've noticed that the rewards seem somewhat… lacking. I've been tracking all the dailies I've done, and these were no exception. What I did find out after doing a little math may put you off doing this series in favor of others*.

(Please note that I'm writing this from the view of a lv80 character, and will not discuss XP rewards.)

The Troll Patrol set of dailies are started by talking to Commander Kunz, who tells you to head out and do the tasks assigned to you by 4 others. Three are Captains whose dailies vary between a set of three, and the final one, Alchemist Finklestein.

It should be noted that the gold reward at lv80 is a static (and small) 3g18s for EVERY Troll Patroll sub-quest.

This brings our total mean average rewards up to 941 rep and 44g46s, or an equated average of ~157 rep and 7g41s per daily over 6 dailies. Even as a best case scenario, you can only get a max of 1075 rep and the aforementioned gold*.

The reality of this series of dailies is, if you're looking to make gold, avoid them at all costs. There are far more lucrative dailies to be run out there. If you're looking to grind Argent Crusade rep, this and Slaves to Saronite are really your only options, unfortunately.

Comment by Farfetch

As a warlock I would recommend using the demonic circle / summon to speed up this quest so you have more time for the others, it can generally be used every 2nd ingredient and as it doesn't need LOS it can be activated as soon as you have the ingredient, you can place it in throwing distance of the cauldron as well to be even quicker.

Comment by Pons

If you have TinyPad or some mod that can run lua scripts (or you can make this an addon itself), running this before you do the daily helps a lot:-- Troll Patrol Alchemist Finklestein daily --

local LeftRoom={=1,=1,=1,=1,=1,=1,=1}local OnFloor={=1,=1,=1}local f=TrollPatrolAlchemy or CreateFrame("Frame","TrollPatrolAlchemy")function f.Where() if GetMinimapZoneText()=="Heb'Valok" then local room = LeftRoom and "Left Room" or "Right Room" local onfloor = OnFloor and " (on the floor)" or "" if not arg1:match("%.%.%.") then UIErrorsFrame:AddMessage(room..onfloor.." for "..arg1) end endendf:SetScript("OnEvent",f.Where)f:RegisterEvent("CHAT_MSG_RAID_BOSS_WHISPER")

it will say (in the errors frame box) which room to go to for each ingredient as he asks for them.

Cheap, I know :p

Comment by Gothnorak

!@#$ it this is the most annoying q i have ever seen... i was trying to do patrol things. i did the other 3 q's in 4 min but i can't do this ^&*!

Comment by Finnvinegar

This quest has to top the annoyance charts, if only there was a way to kill Alchemist Finklestein over and over and over again!

Comment by SilentResident

I love it! I love this quest! One of the best :)

Very easy, just make a map of the materials. I succeed it in my very second try!

Since this day, I'm always starting my day with this quest!

I like you, Alchemist Finklestein!I like you, Blizzard! (Finally I have a reason to like you)

Comment by hazakay

this bloody ^&*got quest quest annoys me..really

Comment by Trilless

If it helps.... this chart made on our guild site has pictures of all the items you need to find on one page.

Comment by Bobbuddha

Comment by Nayson

Without a shadow of a doubt the worst quest in Wrath of the Lich king.

Comment by ecartman

Stupidest quest on Wow! If I wanted a brain game I would have gotten a Wii. Refuse to do this quest nuff said.

cart

Comment by bolebeau

I'm having a problem with this quest: the Alchemist won't tell me the ingredients of the potion we're making. I've dropped the quest several times and he just won't tell me.

I really do not like this quest one bit. -.-

Edited to clarify: Yes, I did speak to him after accepting the quest. After I'd failed the first time having no idea what I was doing, and failing the second time because I couldn't find one of the rare ingredients quick enough, he just refused to tell me what he needed.

Comment by submerged

Rofl, $%^& this gay daily quest. the top shelf ruins everything! And on top of that some fkn noob always ganks me! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh annoying

Comment by Archivist

There are quite a few interesting guides up here, but perhaps a simple visual guide might help. I keep this open under my windowed game.

Comment by sincrow

Comment by Hokuto

I'd glady go back to Nagrand and kill 180 mobs for the old good Nesingwary instead.

Comment by sevenless

With no disrespect to Xinhuan, I have a much simpler alternative: write it down on paper.

I looked at Descartes' list and used a scrap of paper to make myself two "rooms", one for the north and one for the south. On each "room" I've got the relevant cardinal directions (N,S, E, W) and what 'rare' item is there. This way as I'm running around doing the preceeding collections I can keep glancing down to remind myself where that goddamn alchemist is going to send me next.

Again, I mean no disrespect. I'm just using a $%^&load of addons already.

Comment by enchantroll

This quest bugged on me. I couldn't complete it despite abandoning it and re-accepting it several times. What a gyp. I had already finished the other three.

Comment by Anorax

Another annoying WoW quest that I am never touching again. Seems WOTLK is full of these types of frustrating quests.

Comment by ThyFlame

A fairly fun quest with a mod or list to help out.

Warlocks can port back to the cauldron from the side rooms to save time.

Comment by Snazz

Yeah... bugger that for a joke. I think I'd rather do a timed version of that stupid quest in Shadow Moon Valley where you use boars to dig up tubers than do this.

Comment by sint

What a joke! This quests makes me want to cancel my WoW subscription and play Runescape. Who ever created this daily quest should be shot!

Comment by Psilocybian

This has my vote for the Most Stressful Quest in WoW Award. I'd install the addon mentioned above right now, but if I close the game then I get to wait in queue for 3 hours. I think I'd rather just suffer the relentlessness of this quest.

Comment by Joana

Comment by bolebeau

There's one thing about most of the above comments that stood out to me:

This is, in theory, a rather simple quest. Yet here everyone is, posting about maps, charts and add-ons they made to help with completing this quest. It's a simple daily quest. That's it. I think it says enough about the quality/design of this quest that people even need these things to complete it without pulling their hair out.

I'm a big fan of World of Warcraft and Blizzard games in general, but they really created a stinker when they came up with this quest.

It's a good thing that completin the various Zul'drak and Icecrown quests and wearing the Argent Crusade tabard makes reaching Exalted rather easy, because this single quest could make the daily Argent Crusade quest in Zul'drak quite a chore.

Comment by Jimtanis

Had to create an account just to express my annoyance at this quest. Thank you to all the contributors!

Comment by Inexorability

Make sure you leave your raid group before you start this quest!

He'll send you running for all the ingredients, but won't give you credit for completing it. You will abandon the quest and try again, several times. You will curse loudly at him. You will open a GM ticket. Then you will realize that you never left your Wintergrasp raid group. If you're anything like me, anyway.

Comment by ploplo

No more reputation with Argent Crusade :(

Comment by supermanbatman

Anyone posting AFTER 11/29/2008 and complaining about how difficult this quest is, or how annoying it is, or how Blizzard fails, or trying to post a new guide..... go get EasySerum. Seriously it takes 2 seconds to download, and you preserve so much of your sanity.

Thanks Xinhuan, EasySerum has restored my faith in humanity.

Comment by Afoxi

After doing this daily for an entire week in a row, I've pretty much memorised all the common/uncommon ingredients. The rare ones are a 50/50 though.

When he asks for it, sometimes I stand around like an idiot wondering if it's left or right, but i usually get it right next time anyway.

Troll patrol can be done with a +60% speed flying mount if you don't fail here. You can fail once, but you'll be cutting it close (try saving time by using your epic ground on those straightways with no aggressive mobs). +60% with class speed boosts (Paladin, Death Knight, etc) have some leeway and can afford to fail once or twice.

Having said that, do this patrol first. Always.

Comment by Kehnara

Ok I keep getting an item that isn't on anyone's list and haven't found it.

Hogsnot

I have the EasySerum addon and when I start the quest it says "Finklestein starting" but never gives me any input.

Comment by Veum

I can't understand how u gyes can spend so much time on this. i have only failed once on this q and i dont use addons.if u just learn em then this will be as easy as nuking Hogger

Comment by Soroush

be careful don't use divine shield in middle of making the serum it will remove your debuff so you will lose the time.

Comment by lmanth

This one keeps bugging on me. Sometimes I click the pot in vain and it times out. I hate it, but need the rep so persist... thanks to the poster with the add-on. Certainly saves search time...

Comment by Itsnotvsmyay

This quest took me a 1/2 hour to do...

Comment by Bombardier

I personally think this quest is one of the best one I've come across in WoW. A real challenge, and a different format from a vast majority of other quests. Sure, there is frustration, but it shouldn't take more than four or five goes to get through it. Just make sure you try to memorise as much as possible. If you don't get a particular ingredient in time, make a special effort to learn that one for next time. A nice little mini-game.

Comment by sarge816

I absolutely abhor, loathe, and hate this quest (not necessarily in that order). If you want to ^&*! yourself off royally, do this. I simply refuse to do the Troll Patrol daily because of this quest (the other one is pretty easy that he gives). And it's not that it is hard, it is just a PITA. Sure, do it a half dozen times and you start to get familiar with the ingredient locations, but who really gives a flip? If I didn't do the quest for a week, it was start all over. If for some reason I didn't get the 20 minute bonus rep, it's because this quest dropped. Just say no and make yourself happier. ABANDON QUEST.

Comment by jojoza

1. Get EasySerum addon.2. Follow directions.3. ?4. PROFIT!

Comment by TukeDuke

$%^&INGMOST ANNOYING QUEST EVER! (<- playing without addons)

Comment by mattj85

Seeing as Easyserum is stating the addon is out of date on my system, i've formulated this in order to help people complete the quest easily. A lot of the items are in both rooms, however just follow the exact location on the guide below and you shouldn't have any problems. Everything is in alphabetical order to quickly locate. Count everything from left to right:

/ / /

-example

- This would identify Abomination guts as being in the left room, the fourth book case (counted from left to right), the third shelf down, and the fourth item accross (counted from left to right)

GUIDE

ABOMINATION GUTS - LEFT ROOM / 4TH FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 4TH FROM LEFT

AMBERSEED - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

ANCIENT ECTOPLASM - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

BLIGHT CRYSTAL - LEFT ROOM / 2ND FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

CHILLED SERPANT MUCUS - LEFT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

CRUSHED BASILISK CRYSTALS - LEFT ROOM / 2ND FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

CRYSTALLIZED HOGSNOT - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 4TH FROM LEFT

FROZEN SPIDER ICHOR - LEFT ROOM / 3RD FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

GHOUL DROOL - RIGHT ROOM / 3RD FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 4TH FROM LEFT

HAIRY HERRING HEAD - EITHER ROOM BOX ON FLOOR

ICECROWN BOTTLE WATER - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 2 DOWN / 1ST FROM LEFT

KNOTROOT - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 1ST FROM LEFT

MUDDY MIRE MAGGOTS - EITHER ROOM BAG ON FLOOR

PICKLED EAGLE EGG - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 2 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

PRISMATIC MOJO - LEFT ROOM / 4TH FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

PULVERIZED GARGOYLE TEETH - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 2 DOWN / 4TH FROM LEFT

PUTRID PIRATE PERSPERATION - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 2 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

RAPTOR CLAW - LEFT ROOM / 4TH FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

SEASONED SLIDER CIDER - EITHER ROOM BARROL ON FLOOR

SHRUNKEN DRAGON'S CLAW - RIGHT ROOM / 3RD FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

SPECKLED GUANO - RIGHT ROOM / 2ND FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 1ST FROM LEFT

SPILKY SPIDER EGGS - RIGHT ROOM / 4TH FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 4TH FROM LEFT

TROLLBANE - RIGHT ROOM / 4TH FROM LEFT / 3 DOWN / 1ST FROM LEFT

WASP'S WING - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 2ND FROM LEFT

WITHERED BAT WING - RIGHT ROOM / 1ST FROM LEFT / 4 DOWN / 3RD FROM LEFT

- Your best bet is to copy this into a word processing application and tab the instruction away from the item name to make it a little bit clearer. Hope this isn't too long winded and if things are spelt incorrectly; i don't care. ; P

Enjoy

Comment by Jerodast

If I met the designer of this quest, I would strangle him to death, no doubt. After force feeding him some mucus, excrement, spider eggs, and drool. Note to Blizzard: If you want us to memorize idiotic lists of meaningless items for a single quest, at least make them distinctive enough to remember, instead of making every one a liquid in a glass jar. Also: If everyone needs a guide or addon to be sure they'll get this quest done in the time limit, then it needs redesign.

Comment by Jerodast

Well, you can see from the last comment that 24 days ago I hated this quest with the burning fury of a thousand fiery suns.

However, I have found a way to be 100% fine with it while still remaining stubborn enough not to download a single addon or write/copy a ridiculously long macro! Here is your one line solution:

/say CSM BC/CBC FSI AG CH nada GD T

Stick this in a macro. Put it somewhere handy. Whip it out when the time comes. The initials correspond to each of the possible final (6th) ingredients. They are in order starting on the east wall of the south/left room and proceeding along the wall to the right. The blank space is the split from left room to right. Just look at your required ingredient, find its initials in the chat, and you'll know exactly which wall to look at. I have not failed a single attempt since using this.

Comment by Jerodast

Well, you can see from the last comment that 24 days ago I hated this quest with the burning fury of a thousand fiery suns.

However, I have found a way to be 100% fine with it while still remaining stubborn enough not to download a single addon or write/copy a ridiculously long macro! Here is your one line solution:

/say CSM BC/CBC FSI AG CH nada GD T

Stick this in a macro. Put it somewhere handy. Whip it out when the time comes. The initials correspond to each of the possible final (6th) ingredients. They are in order starting on the east wall of the south/left room and proceeding along the wall to the right. The blank space is the split from left room to right. Just look at your required ingredient, find its initials in the chat, and you'll know exactly which wall to look at. The line is short enough not to wrap, so it provides a great visual aid. I have not failed a single attempt since using this.

Comment by harod

I don't know when they nerfed this quest, but I just did it on an alt for the first time in ages and it is totally different. There is no more time limit. It's just: "find 4 things". Sorry to the people who never got to do the old version. It was genuinely hard.

Comment by Nekobaghira

This quest is awful and not worth doing, at least not to me. I don't have that kind of time to waste and get nothing really for it. I agree with another poster who stated that as a daily quest this one is a stinker.

Comment by Sinopa

If you have the carbonite addon installed, do not worry too much about this quest. When finklestein tells you what ingredient he needs, carbonite's 'tracking'-arrow tells you exactly where to go, on which shelf the item is and if it is the first, second, third item (from left to right) etcetera. I managed the first time with ease. Works great.

If you do not like questhelper-addons such as Carbonite I recommend not to install it, since it has almost all quest data from WoW and therefore it would be a waste of space on your computer to only get it for this quest.

Comment by Scatmanicus

If you want an easy guide, I've created my own that I use very effectively.

Comment by CzechMirco

It astonishes me and saddens me how the oh so mighty WoW heroes spend so much time scripting macros, programming games, drawing maps, instead of exercising their memory a bit.

Comment by SaltyScurge

I love how he'll say..."Now go get me some...RAPTOR CLAW!""Hmm, tastes like it needs more...RAPTOR CLAW!""Now, all I need is a bit more...RAPTOR CLAW!"Either he's making a new sort of mutant raptor mount or the most awesome recipie ever.

Comment by babaracusazz

VERY VERY annoying daily quest. I rather pass kidney stones thru my penis. If your memory is lousy you are screwed. Be patience with this quest. Previous post advised the last thing the quester will need will be rare. So take the time to see where everything is. Also avoid trying to grab anything for the top shelves. You have to climb up on a box and that make this quest even more frustating. Enjoy!

Comment by Prondorrogueown

THIS IS THE STUPIDIST QUEST IN THE GAME OF WOW 13 trys and still fail and sometimes it wont click the cauldron

Comment by dogmeat55

I tries this quest with my level 85 Warrior-Fury a second time. I regret I may disappoint people of what I write , sorry. I have no idea what this quest is about? But for all the confusion it has caused I would soon see this quest done away with. Two years ago, at level 75, I tried to complete it but could not. Then deciding to try it again, only to realize that this quest can not be completed. Who ever thought it had value or worth as a quest, is sadly mistaken! I suspect that is why I do not like questing in Zul' Drak!

Comment by Diboah

THIS IS BULL!@#$! THE MOST !@#$ING ANNOYING QUEST EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! DONT' WAIST YOUR TIME!